The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for the delivery of aerosolized medicaments. One or more embodiments of the invention relate to a device or system for the aerosolization and delivery of liquids, of liquid medicaments for safe, rapid and efficient delivery of the aerosolized liquids and liquid medicaments to the pulmonary system of a patient. More specifically, one or more embodiments of the invention relate to an aerosolization chamber for the transfer of an aerosolized medicament, and delivery of the aerosolized medicament to the pulmonary system of a patient.
Aerosolized medicaments can be administered directly to the lungs to treat diseases and/or conditions of the lung, and to treat diseases or conditions having a systemic effect or component thereof. Many medicaments cannot be administered orally, due to their sensitivity to metabolism and/or degradation and resulting inactivation in the gastrointestinal tract, thus pulmonary delivery avoids the need for intramuscular, subcutaneous or transdermal delivery and associated needles. Additionally or alternatively, it may be safer and/or more efficacious to deliver the medicament directly to the lungs and/or pulmonary system instead of other administration routes.
Moreover, when treating diseases and/or conditions of the lungs and/or pulmonary system, it is often safer and/or more efficacious to deliver the medicament directly to the lungs and/or pulmonary system, thereby avoiding or reducing the need for systemic administration of medicament.
Aerosolized medicaments are used to treat patients suffering from a variety of respiratory ailments. Medicaments can be delivered directly to the lungs by having the patient inhale the aerosol through a tube and/or mouthpiece coupled to the aerosol generator. By inhaling the aerosolized medicament, the patient can quickly receive a dose of medicament that is concentrated at the treatment site (e.g., the bronchial passages and lungs of the patient). Generally, this is a more effective and efficient method of treating respiratory ailments than first administering a medicament through the patient's circulatory system (e.g., intravenous injection). However, many challenges remain with the safe, efficient and efficacious delivery of aerosolized medicaments.
For example, delivery of aerosolized medicaments in the home may be limited by costly, bulky or difficult to operate equipment. Devices for delivery on large scale, such as vaccinations, are often costly and/or difficult to use in certain settings, such as remote and undeveloped areas.
Moreover, existing modes of administration are unsatisfactory for large-scale purposes. Injections are time-consuming, relatively costly and have significant compliance problems, particularly in developing countries. Oral administration is not suitable for many anti-infectives, and existing pulmonary administration methods suffer from one or more of requiring expensive and/or bulky equipment, long administration times, or contamination concerns.
The purpose of medical aerosol generator systems is to convert a medicated liquid or powder into aerosol form so that it can be administered to the airways of the respiratory tract. There are various commercially available medical aerosol generator systems in the form of pneumatically controlled, ultrasonic and vibrating-membrane devices in particular, as well as pressurized canisters with a metering valve.
The various published studies on this subject all agree and confirm that a large proportion of the dispensed aerosol is lost and wasted rather than being used for the desired therapeutic treatment. Authors and manufacturers alike estimate the proportion of aerosol that is actually used at approximately 25% (inhalable or available fraction). Losses are due to several parameters, including loss of the medication in the atmosphere when the patient exhales, the mass of medication lost in the nebuliser at the end of nebulisation and the mass lost during transfer of the aerosol.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,982 and WO 03/089036, for example, aerosol generators that use turbulence or vortex effects during transport of the aerosol are the cause of loss of aerosol particles. Obtaining this turbulence effect requires entry of air to take place in a plane that is perpendicular to the transport axis of the aerosol.
For these reasons, it's desirable to increase the aerosol delivery efficiencies of nebulizer systems. Embodiments of the present invention address these and other problems with conventional systems and methods of treating patients with aerosolized medicaments.